Monday, July 29, 2013

July 29

According to a special report from theBaton Rouge Advocate, the Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office is conducting stings to find men willing to have consensual gay sex and arresting them for crimes against nature. No money is discussed in these exchanges; the men are being targeted and humiliated under the state's sodomy law, which has been unconstitutional since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling.

At least a dozen of these arrests have taken place since 2011, with the most recent taking place July 18. District Attorney Hillar Moore III said that none of these cases have been prosecuted because no crime occurred, but these men are still being arrested, temporarily jailed, and fined merely for agreeing to private sexual activity. [...]

Has anyone else managed to wrap their head around the fact that Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard isn't justopposed to the NY SAFE Act, but has pledged to not honor or enforce it in any way? The power of the sheriff is not law selection – to pick and choose which laws to enforce – it is, instead, law enforcement.

"When you have Rand Paul actually comparing Snowden to Martin Luther King or Henry David Thoreau, this is madness, this is the anti-war Democrats in the 1960s that destroyed their party for almost 15 years," King said on CNN's "State of the Union." "I don't want that happening to our party."

King also blasted other Republicans for voting to defund the National Security Administration last week, calling the move "disgraceful."

"I thought it was absolutely disgraceful that so many Republicans voted to defund the NSA program, which has done so much to protect our country," King said….

Of course it is not true that King is agreeing with the President, he's just disagreeing with the faddish new "populist libertarian", i.e. "anti-neocon", splittist faction within the GOP. He's got the Old Bull party-machine take on the late-1960s Democratic implosion — if only those DFH kids had had the common decency to know their place and wait their turn rather than insisting on all those anti-war, pro-Negro, womens-libber pieties! — and sees a political advantage for Peter King in warning the other GOP Old Bulls against wrongthought deviationism. Which is why I can, with a clean conscience, pray for injuries (or a small, targeted meteorite) in this intraparty scuffle.

But then, despite his public flirtation last week, Peter King is never going to be a serious presidential candidate — he's just stroking the egos of his Lung Guylint constituents when he suggests he could win as many as three electoral votes. On the other hand, barring some particularly exotic scandal, this guy…

… Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who was a vocal and at times caustic critic of Rand Paul's father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, during the 2012 primaries, called it a welcome development that "people are starting to push back."

"There was a lot of talk, particularly during the Republican primary last year, of, 'Well, we don't want to alienate these voters," Santorum said, recalling that he'd been criticized as "too bellicose" and "too warlike. "I can tell you, the Paulistas who were active on the state level in 2012 were not interested in the Republican Party as it now exists. They are interested in a very different kind of model."…

… is arguably 2016′s man of the ever-GOP-popular "It's His Turn" coalition. So maybe we Democrats will have the excitement of watching the GOP's long-awaited implosion after all?

Here's some background via Jezebel. They're evidently handing them out to kids at a State Fair in North Dakota:

Want a squishy toy fetus with your corn dog? If you're visiting the North Dakota State Fair, you're in luck! Last weekend, local anti-choice advocates slipped soft fetal models into kids' candy bags without parental permission during the fair's gigantic parade. "I don't know exactly where I stand on abortion," one mother told Jezebel, "but I believe in my rights as a parent."

The North Dakota State Fair boasts a bevy of attractions, including performances by Tim McGraw and Creedence Clearwater Revisited. But Minot Right to Life spent the weekend giving away creepy little fetuses to kids without asking parents' permission first. "It was really disturbing watching children run around with them," one recalled. A federal judge recently temporarily blocked enforcement of the state's highly unconstitutional six-week abortion ban; perhaps appealing to elementary schoolers' interests is the group's Plan B?

"The Precious One" fetal models are manufactured by Heritage House, a "pro-life supply store," for $1.50 a pop — cheaper if you buy in bulk. "Its beautiful detail, softness and weight can really move hearts and change minds!" the website promises. A customer service representative told Jezebel that the models are most often given to pregnant women at "pregnancy centers" and kids at school presentations.

Yep. It's really easy to care for a plastic fetus without any consequences or responsibilities. I hope parents explain to their kids how their new fetus doesn't deserve affordable healthcare or a solid public education after its born.